BRM Reviews NXT New Year's Evil (AWESOME!)

[Big Red Machine]

DAMIAN PRIEST vs. KARRION KROSS (w/Scarlett)- 7.25/10
This was a great hoss fight. Priest’s ribs- which were injured last week- were worked over. Kross has a new finisher, which is a running forearm to the back of the head of an already stunned opponent.

DEXTER LUMIS PRESSES RANDOM BUTTONS ON A CONTROL PANEL IN THE EMPTY CWC- dumb
He turned the lights on and off a few times, before pulling a big, goofy switch with the New Year’s Evil logo on it, which turned everything on. What purpose did this serve?

They showed a video with a bunch of the 2021 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic teams, but they went by too quickly for me to remember and list.

MCKENZIE MITCHELL INTERVIEWS ADAM COLE & KYLE O’REILLY- A good promo to build up their DRTTC opening round match against Breezango next week.

NXT CRUISERWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Santos Escobar(c) (w/Legado del Phantasma) vs. Gran Metalik (w/Lincé Dorado)- 7.75/10
Excellent Lucha, including a fantastic recovery when something very clearly didn’t go as planned.

MERCEDES MARTINEZ VIDEO PACKAGE/PROMO ON IO SHIRAI- GREAT!

KATRINA CORTEZ vs. XIA LI (w/Boa)- squash
She’s the same Xia Li, just with a bigger entrance and angrier. She still does a bunch of martial arts stuff. Also, their master is watching from a throne on the ramp. Why is this mysterious and clearly cruel person being let into the building?

WILLIAM REGAL ANNOUNCES THAT DUE TO TIMOTHY THATCHER SUFFERING “A MINOR INJURY DURING TRAINING,” THE MEDICAL STAFF HAS DETERMINED HE IS UNABLE TO COMPETE IN THE FIGHT PIT MATCH, SO IT HAS TO BE POSTPONED- I am sad. Also, I hope this isn’t one of those “Thatcher is scared to face Ciampa so he’s making up excuses” stories.

MCKENZIE MITCHELL INTERVIEWS BRONSON REED- very good
He says this will be his year and also predicts victory for Rhea Ripley in the…

LAST WOMAN STANDING MATCH: Rhea Ripley vs. Raquel Gonzalez- 9/10
HOLY F*CK!
These two beat the sh*t out of each other all over the building. They did a great job of escalating things throughout, and had some fantastic little twists and turns. Dakota Kai interfering and Rhea neutralizing her by shoving her into a locker was tremendous, but Raquel just ripping the fence out to free herself after being handcuffed to it was probably my favorite spot in the whole match. I was also extremely happy to see that they made the right call and gave Raquel the win.


THE WAY CELEBRATE JOHNNY GARGANO BREAKING THE CURSE- good… until Shotzi showed up
I usually find The Way to be annoying in the wrong way and feel like Indi and Theory are getting buried rather than elevated by their association with Johnny and Candice, but this time I found this group to be very entertaining.
And, of course, if I like something, Shotzi Blackheart has to come out and interrupt it. Austin Theory went to tell her off, but she got him in the testicles with some sort of projectile from her tank. That doesn’t seem very sporting.
Johnny went to check on Theory. Shotzi charged into the ring and took out both Indi and Candice. Johnny Gargano was going to go give her ass-kicking she so rightfully deserves (JUSTICE FOR ROBERT STONE!) but KUSHIDA came out and turned heel by stopping Johnny from obliterating the world’s most annoying poseur.
Dexter Lumis rang the ring bell and then pointed at the TitanTron… and up popped a graphic he had drawn announcing a mixed tag team match pitting the Garganos against Shotzi Blackheart & KUSHIDA, as if he somehow knew all of this was going to happen.

MIXED TAG TEAM MATCH: Shotzi Blackheart & KUSHIDA vs. THE WAY (Johnny Gargano & Candice LeRae) (w/Austin Theory & Indi Hartwell)- 6.25/10
Dexter Lumis was on commentary. He said nothing. Johnny and KUSHIDA were tremendous together, and I can’t wait to see them have a singles match.

WILLIAM REGAL ANNOUNCES A WOMEN’S DUSTY RHODES TAG TEAM CLASSIC- Hopefully this will be more consequential than AEW’s women’s tag team tournament.

NXT TITLE MATCH: Finn Balor(c) vs. Kyle O’Reilly- 8/10
The story here was essentially a reversal of the previous match, with Balor trying to break Kyle’s jaw and also benefitting from scoring a shot to the liver. It was an exciting match and they told the story well, but the story was a little too cute for my liking.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- fine
Undisputed Era came out to check on Kyle. Balor showed him respect after the match.


An AWESOME start to the year for NXT! I imagine that the Gonzalez vs. Ripley match will be high in my list of women’s MITVs at the end of the year.